As you might expect from a Marvel set, Marvel Super Heroes contains no shortage of heroes and villains. Unsurprisingly, this has given rise to a new wave of typal support for these archetypes. As if this weren’t enough to make older heroes and villains more popular, two of the set’s precons even delve into these typal themes.
While there are plenty of potent upgrades to the Avengers Assemble precon, the Doom Prevails deck is the current fan favorite. For better or worse, there’s no shortage of upgrades for this deck, too, to embolden its Villain Typal theme.
If you are going down this route, picking up a copy of Norman Osborn//Green Goblin is practically mandatory. With how obvious this upgrade is for the Doom Prevails precon, it’s no wonder this card has spiked in price recently.
MTG Norman Osborn//Green Goblin
Essentially, Norman Osborn//Green Goblin is the perfect upgrade to the Doom Prevails precon. Not only is this card a villain, but it can consistently trigger Connive, which is a big theme in Villain Typal decks. Considering Norman can’t be blocked, essentially Conniving every turn, its front face alone is more than reason enough to play it.
Beyond just Conniving, transforming Norman Osborn into Green Goblin isn’t too costly, either. Once done, you can recast any cards you discard, via Connive or otherwise, for cheap, which is insanely valuable. This effect is so strong, in fact, that you could easily swap out Doctor Doom, King of Latveria for Norman Osborn//Green Goblin as your Commander.
Whichever path you decide to go down, the synergy between Norman Osborn//Green Goblin and Doom Prevails is undeniable. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that this card has seen such an increase in demand and play rate recently. According to EDHREC, this card is already seeing play in 75% of Doctor Doom decks, which is around 1,140 lists.
While this is a notable bump in play rate, Norman Osborn//Green Goblin is already a very popular MTG card. Helming 15,000 decks, and appearing in the 99 of almost 6,000 more, this card is hardly undiscovered. In fact, this card is a consistent menace in cEDH, with impressive Dual Commander performances under its belt, too.
Despite being rather popular already, Normal Osborn didn’t actually used to be that expensive. Back in late May, for example, copies of this card were selling for around $2,90 on average. While this wasn’t a totally budget price point, sadly, this past price is now a distant memory.
The Spike
Thanks to over 470 near-mint copies of Norman Osborn//Green Goblin selling in the past month, prices have increased dramatically. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these sales followed the Doom Prevails precon being revealed, which confirmed the card wasn’t being reprinted. With no new supply entering the market, it didn’t take long for players to jump on this card.
Now, a near-mint copy of Norman Osborn//Green Goblin will set you back around $7 on average. Even if you don’t care about quality, there aren’t any savings, as lightly-played copies are selling for the same price. Thankfully, there are still 142 listings on TCGplayer, but these might not last long given the recent rate of sales.
Unfortunately, while there is a borderless printing of Norman Osborn//Green Goblin, it also isn’t any cheaper. Thanks to being slightly rarer, copies of this variant start at around $9 right now, and lower supply will likely push prices higher. Still, while there’s a good chance prices will increase sharply in the short term, the long-term future might not be too terrible.
A Lot More Marvel
For better or worse, it’s expected that we’re getting four more MTG Marvel sets in the future. While there’s no release schedule for these, even one per year will have us enjoying Marvel until 2030. As much as this may be too much for some MTG players, it does open up some exciting opportunities.
Since Universes Beyond sets take roughly four years to develop, the hypothetical 2030 Marvel set is a blank slate right now. This makes it the perfect place to load up with needed reprints from past Marvel sets. Hypothetically, these could either appear in the set’s inevitable bonus sheet or perhaps even the set’s preconstructed decks.
Either way, if we are getting Marvel-themed reprints, then Norman Osborn//Green Goblin would be a fantastic option. Not only is it steadily getting more expensive, but this card is only getting more popular. As such, increasing supply, while potentially also giving players new art to enjoy or collect, feels like a slam dunk.
Ultimately, while a reprint does feel likely given the number of Marvel sets we’ll be getting, nothing in MTG is guaranteed. If we don’t get a reprint, the price of Norman Osborn//Green Goblin could easily soar in the coming months and years. Whether or not this will actually end up happening, however, remains to be seen.
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